Thanks for all the replies. I'm still trying to figure her out.
She is definitely decoding in this manner, at least enough to read words like "ship," "chin," "teeth," and "balloon" on the first time. She also reads "y" at the end of a word as /ee/.
Also, she reads "g" as /g/ (like "gum," and "game," and "glue,") but then read "gentle" after about two seconds of thought.
And, this is all words spelled out of context. I have discovered she can read a first grade level book (little bear, frog and toad, the fire cat) with me helping her out by reading the letters for the longer words. Obviously, context is helping her a lot.
This is kind of interesting. All those little sight words she has committed to memory: the, those, she, of, have, when, one, etc. She cannot read them aurally.
But, for the most part, it is like I am speaking her language, and I get that "snake" and "train" and "bird" and "bike" are easily translated from letters to word. I was just surprised by how quick she picked up on this, as well as how much better she is at it than visual reading. And, like I said, it does not seem to be something all emerging readers can do.
Lori: She could not get "breakfast." She actually just said "fast." I couldn't remember the others you mentioned. But, darn, I thought she'd get that one.
